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International survey of CFOs' view on narrative reporting

27 Sep 2010

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in partnership with Deloitte has conducted a survey into the views of CFOs in leading listed and public interest' companies across nine markets on the challenges around narrative reporting, specifically in annual reports.

Hitting the notes, but what's the tune? is now available on the ACCA's Website.

231 CFOs of publicly accountable entities in Australia, China, Kenya, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK and the USA were interviewed. Their views form the majority of the report. The main findings were then discussed with seven CFOs and various investor representatives, and a report on each of these interviews is also included in the report.

Two findings from the survey are especially striking:

CFOs are between a rock and a hard place. They are seeking to communicate to shareholders but at the same time they have to meet all the legal and other requirements placed on them. Therefore, the top response (65%) on what CFOs would like to see for the future was more discretion and less regulation. 19% favoured more regulation.

The second most popular answer on what would improve the usefulness of narrative reporting disclosures was an external auditor opinion on the narrative. 58% of CFOs supported this.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.

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